Posted on 05/22/2003 6:32:09 AM PDT by Theodore R.
GOP support not sure for 1 candidate By Bill Estep HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
It's too soon to say how strongly, or even whether, the Republican Party will support its surprise nominee for attorney general, party officials said yesterday.
Several prominent Republicans, including state GOP Chairwoman Ellen Williams and Jack Richardson IV, Republican chairman in Jefferson County, both said they didn't know Jack D. Wood, who runs a family flooring business in Louisville and has a limited law practice.
Williams said she talked with Wood by telephone yesterday and they plan to meet. The party is doing research on Wood, but Williams and Richardson said they were not yet prepared to say whether the party will back him.
"Party support is not something that just comes automatically," Richardson said.
The party does not have unlimited resources to help every candidate, Williams said.
Wood said he expects the party to help him in every way possible, including raising money, organizing and including him in joint appearances with U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher, the nominee for governor, and others on the GOP ticket.
Wood, 51, ran into some problems when he was a district judge in southern Kentucky in the early 1980s. The state judicial-discipline commission twice suspended his pay, ruling once that he had deceived voters with misleading campaign ads, and another time that he misused his office by urging another official to set a high bond for a man involved in a dispute with a relative of Wood's.
Wood was also charged with arson and fraud for allegedly burning his unfinished house in 1986 to collect insurance. Wood denied the charges and a jury acquitted him.
Wood's opponent in the fall, state Rep. Greg Stumbo of Prestonsburg, faced sharp criticism during his primary. The issues included a lawsuit accusing him of reneging on promises to pay support after fathering a child out of wedlock in the late 1980s and pleading guilty to public intoxication in 1991.
But Wood's scars will prevent him from going after Stumbo effectively in the general election, said state Rep. Tim Feeley, who lost to Wood on Tuesday.
"Neither of them can attack the other on their record," Feeley said.
Wood, however, said the suspensions were a long time ago, and that he did not regard them as a "big deal" because he only lost pay and was not forced off the bench.
"I kept working as a public servant should," he said.
Stumbo said he plans to run a positive campaign this fall, focusing on "vision and leadership and how to move Kentucky forward."
Party regulars had expected Feeley, of Oldham County, to win the nomination over Wood and Louisville lawyer Philip Kimball.
Feeley had the party's implicit support, and his campaign was much better financed, with $32,505 in contributions as of early May compared with $1,744 for Wood. Feeley also campaigned much more widely, making trips to more than 50 counties and sending mail to 40,000 likely GOP voters.
Wood ran only a limited campaign, but won by a comfortable margin.
Lack of attention to the race and limited spending by the participants meant many voters did not know the candidates. Wood ran for a metro council seat in Jefferson County last year -- albeit as a Democrat -- and so had some leftover name recognition; in other cases, voters probably pulled the lever for him simply because his name was listed first on the ballot in some areas or because it sounds like a more "regular" name than Feeley, said Kimball and others.
Ted Jackson, a Louisville businessman who managed Republican Larry Forgy's 1995 campaign for governor, said Feeley and party regulars may have taken it for granted that Feeley would win.
Jackson said he wasn't ready to concede the fall race, but that Feeley's loss was a "big disappointment." That is more because of Feeley's top-drawer qualifications -- service in the state House and as an Army officer and assistant federal prosecutor -- than because of Wood, Jackson said.
Some observers even raised the idea of trying to talk Wood into dropping out so the party could replace him as the nominee.
Danny Briscoe, a political consultant who worked in Stumbo's campaign for two months, said Stumbo "got a break, no question" with Wood winning the GOP nomination.
But Stumbo has some vulnerable spots, and a big vote for Fletcher could also help other Republicans on the ticket, Briscoe said.
I don't know, the negatives Wood has aren't terrible. Certainly no straight arrow, but who do you think would have a higher ethical standard, Stumbo or Wood? Stumbo's a deadbeat dad for cryin' out loud.
Wood's problems were: misleading campaign ad (that's just redundant), misuse of office (sounds like the typical small-town stuff), and fraud -- but he was aquitted. They were all over 15 years ago. He's served without incident as an assistant d.a., I think, since then. I don't think it would be necessary to disown him, maybe just place him on a lower priority than other races in terms of receiving help from the party.
Perhaps, but Patton's troubles still seem to be the big "vulture" perched over this election.
But from my tactical observation post here in VA there does appear to be an unprecedented level of excitement and belief that the KY Pubbies can win this time. We'll have to see if that translates into success in November.
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